The Runaway, the Thief, and the Bird
by imsally
Summary: Three mutant runaways caught up in the hatred for mutants are split up by a power-hungry richman, and one of them, against all odds, must find the others. (PG13 for language)
1. Pretty Good For a Days Work

The Runaway, the Thief and the Bird  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men. I don't own any of the characters; accept for Gryffon, and Camry. They are mine.  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Camry woke and stretched. Well, she tried to stretch. In truth, the tiny loft that she had found shelter in was barely big enough for her to stand up in, let alone move around. She deeply envied Gryffon. He could fit anywhere he liked, in Camry's shoulder bag, for example. Which is where he was curled up now.  
  
"Gryff," she whispered, poking his sleeping form, "Wake up, Gryff. We have to get going if we're gonna get anywhere today." Gryffon sat up, and stretched.  
  
"OK, Cam, I'm up." Camry smiled, and crawled to the other side of the loft, where a ladder led down to the rest of the barn. Gryffon was walking around to.  
  
"Hey, Cammie?" He asked. Camry lifted a brow at him. Not ostentatiously. He only called her Cammie when he wanted something.  
  
"Hmm?" She replied.  
  
"Will you carry me today? I'll make myself really small, you wont even notice me at all! I promise I won't..." Camry cut him off with a disbelieving snort.  
  
"Carry you?" She cried, "Like HELL I'll carry you!" He sighed. "Besides," she continued, "Which is more conspicuous, one kid walking alone on a deserted highway, miles from civilization, or two?"   
  
"Uhhh..." he replied.  
  
"ONE!" She creamed, "If there is only one kid, all alone, in the middle of nowhere, then they have a higher chance of being a mutant. With two, they could merely be lost, or walking or something.  
  
"That makes no sense," he countered.  
  
"I know, but that doesn't mean I'll carry you." He sighed, admitting defeat. Camry picked up both her bag and his and crawled down into the barn.   
  
"Cam, I can't get down the ladder like this!" The tiny Gryffon called from the top of the stair.  
  
"So use the rope!" Camry replied. Grumbling, Gryffon slid down a rope that dangled from the loft.  
  
"You'd best make yourself big again," she told him, "Cuz I'm leavin' now, and you have to come too." Gryffon sighed, and tried again at his hopeless attempt.  
  
"Well, if you'd carry me, then I..."  
  
"Gryffon, NO!!" He sighed again, then closed his eyes and held his breath. In a moment or two, he had grown to a regular height of five feet, ten inches, much taller then Camry's five feet, three inches, that she was so proud of finally gaining.  
  
"You're making me feel short," she grumbled.  
  
"Oh, that's right!" He said, "I'm supposed to look much older than you, like an older brother!"  
  
"Gryffon," she warned, "You're trading on thin ice," he did not heed her warning, but grew another few inches, to make him over six feet. She scowled wt him.  
  
"Now," he said, ruffling her hair, "I can be a big brother." She smacked him, and he shrank back down to his earlier height. The two went out into the field that was empty the night before. But it wasn't empty now. A strong-looking farmer and what appeared to be his two sons (both adults, and both looking like they lifted waits for a living.) were blocking their path.  
  
"Look here, boys," said the oldest of the three, "Looks like these two were using our loft for a house. That's not very nice, is it?" The men moved closer. They were only a few inches away, now. Camry gulped. 'Should I run' she thought, then decided against it. They could probably run faster. Gryffon, however, did not have this sort of logic. The second the man was finished speaking, he bolted. Camry followed. The pair ran side by side, the farmer chasing them.  
  
"Ok," Camry said between breaths, "We split up at the road. You go left, I go right. We meet on the other side, by the raspberry bush. Got it?" Gryffon nodded.  
  
"Then we eat, right?" He asked. Camry laughed and smacked him. Gryffon's mind was always on food. The road leapt upon them, and in a spray of dust and stones, the two split apart, and ran in opposite directions. The farmer and his sons were left there, panting. It seemed that there was more fat than muscle.   
  
Camry didn't stop running until she was out of site, then dived into a ditch. She lay there, trying to catch her breath, and she knew that, almost a mile away. She grinned smugly, and out from her pocket came two leather wallets. She opened the first on. It belonged to the older of the two boys. Drivers license, credit cards, other forms of ID. They were of no use to her. She opened the billfold and gasped. Twenty-dollar bills were inside. Lots of them. Hundreds of dollars. These men had more money than their old, dusty outfits hinted at. The second wallet, the fathers, wasn't as full. She pulled out three wallets from her bag. They were all hers. She distributed the bills equally in them. Not bad for a days work. No bad at all. Then she sat up, buried both the wallets, and credit cars in the loose dirt, then sauntered off down the road. She met Gryffon at the raspberry patch they had found earlier.  
  
"Those guys were pretty rich," Gryffon said as they came together.  
  
"Four hundred off one of the sons." Camry whistled.  
  
"I got the other two. Three hundred off one, two off the other." Gryffon smiled.   
  
"Think that'll get us down into the states?" He asked, using his hand to shade his eyes from the early sun. Camry shrugged and replied, "I dunno. Plane, no. Bus, yup." Gryffon considered for a minute.   
  
"Well," he said, " I'd rather take the plane. With what we had before, we could afford one ticket and a little to the states, with this and a few more lifts like this one, we could get in easy And still have money for souvenirs!" Camry smiled.  
  
"But, we still need cash in the states, and the money is different there." Gryffon shrugged.  
  
"Lets' worry about that later. For now, there is a bush full of berries at our feet, and I'm starving." He sat down, and started plucking berries from the bush. Camry didn't join him. She didn't eat.  
  
"Hey, Gryff? There's a lake down there. I'm going to take a swim, k?" He nodded. Camry walked down to the lakes edge. She sighed. Camry stripped off her clothes, and immediately dived into the water. She smiled, and took a deep breath of the water through the gills that were on the back of her neck. Her skin grew rust-colored scales, insulating her from the cold of the water, turning it from freezing to pleasantly cool. She sighed. She hadn't swum in a long time.  
  
~ * ~  
  
Camry didn't know how much time had passed when she heard her name being called faintly from above her. She poked her head out from under the water. Gryffon was standing at the lakes edge. It was already late after noon.  
  
"What?" she demanded, swimming a little closer, her scales slowly disappearing.  
  
"You look creepy like that," he informed her. She rolled her eyes, "You had better come and look at this," he told her. He turned away while she came out of the water and dressed, then led her up the hill. Curled in the raspberry patch, completely ignoring the thorns that had obviously given her various bloody cuts, was a girl.  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *~ * ~  
  
Authors Note: What do you think? I know it's kind of a bad start, but it will get better, I promise! :) 


	2. And Two becomes Three

Disclaimer: I still don't own X-Men. But I will... mark my words, some day they will be mine...ALL MINE!!  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Camry cautiously approached the girl.  
  
"Hey," she said, "Are you alright?" A small groan issued from the small form lying amid the thorns. The girl rolled over to face Camry, who gasped.  
  
"Oh my God!" The girl's face was riddled with bruises, and cuts. And, from the strange angle at which it was lying, her arm appeared to be broken.  
  
"Oh God!" Camry cried, "Are you ok? We have to find a hospital for you! Gryffon, help he carry her!" The girl shook her head.  
  
"I'm ok, I just needed to sleep. I didn't think that anyone owned this land. Sorry. I'll leave," the girl muttered.  
  
"No, wait!" Camry said, as the girl got up to leave, " We don't own it either. Listen, we have to... what the..." Camry stared as the worst of the cuts and bruises started to heal themselves. The arm, too, fitted back into its rightful place. "Are you a mutant?" Camry asked. The girl gasped.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry!" she cried I didn't really realize that I was, I mean, I don't really mean to, but I do... and..." she burst into tears.  
  
"It's ok," Camry said, "Were mutants, too, both of us. Don't worry. Hey, are you with anyone." The girl's tears stopped, and she shook her head. "We're going down into the states," Camry said, " Want to come with?" The girl smiled slightly. Camry saw that she wasn't as young as first glance told. Maybe about fourteen.  
  
"I'd like some company," the girl said, "But I don't want to impose..."  
  
"Nah," Camry told her, "Me 'n' Gryff could use the help." The girl smiled again.  
  
"I'm Dylan, by the way," she said, "But people call me Birdie, because of my mutation."  
  
"Huh?" Asked Camry, "But you can heal you self. What does that have to do with..."  
  
"I can fly."  
  
"Oh," Camry said. "I'm Camry, and I can breath underwater. The guy over there is Gryffon. He can grow and shrink in size."  
  
"Cool," Birdie said. The two girls smiled at each other.  
  
And two becomes three.  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~   
  
Author's Note: Ok, the first two chapters were introduction chapters. In the next chapter, the plot will begin to form. I promise. 


	3. The Third Time it was Said

Disclaimer: I still don't own X-Men. But I do own Birdie, Camry, and Gyffon.   
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
'Ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod!' Camry thought, hugging her backpack to her chest as she ran. How did she get herself into this! She stopped to catch her breath. Where the hell were Gryffon and Birdie! She glanced around the dreary streets, and saw no sign of her comrades. Or should I say, her accomplices.   
  
It had been a year since the two found the third, and things had been going great. They had been traveling back and forth from Canada (where the story started) to the states. Picking a pocket here, stealing some food there to survive. They had taught Birdie how to pick pockets, and she had had an incredible knack for it. A gift, if you will.  
  
But tonight, they were going in for a bigger catch. Much bigger. They were going into a bank.  
  
The plan had been this; the three would wait until night, then Birdie would fly to the roof. She would watch the guards through the rather stupidly placed skylight. When they were on their coffee break, she would signal then with her flashlight. Camry would slip the end off of a vent, Gryffon would adjust his size to fit, and crawl through. All three had hands-free walkie-talkies. Camry would talk him through opening the vault, as she was the one who knew how to do it. He would get the money, (not to much, only a few thousand) and slip back out, quickly as possible.   
  
Everything went well, until Gryffon was inside.   
  
"OK," Camry said, "Hop over the teller's desk, and move back. Quietly. Be careful" He did not reply. Camry had told him not to. Move closer to the vault. There is a combination lock on it. Pull out your stethoscope. Put it beside the lock. Move the lock back and forth until it clicks. Do it two more times." She waited until sh heard three faint clicks. Put the cooking oil on the hinges, and open the door." She heard him pull out the oil. Then nothing, but a faint, slightly afraid,   
  
"Oh shit."   
  
"Gryffon, Gryffon, are you there? Gryffon?" Camry asked. "Birdie, what the hell happened?"  
  
"I don't know," came the reply, "I can't see. I think the guards... Run Camry!! Run!! He must have pulled the alarm!" silence for a second, then, "Oh shit."  
  
"They don't know we're here, it's ok," Static. "Birdie? Birdie? BIRDIE!!" She was screaming it, up at the roof. There were some clatters, a few muffled thumps, then nothing. A light shone over the ridge of the roof, right into Camry's eyes.  
  
"There's another here! Prob'ly another mutant freak!" the voice echoed through the cold.  
  
"Get it, then! We have to clear out the city, remember? If it's not a mutant, throw it in jail!" came the reply.  
  
"Oh shit." That was the third time it was said. And each time with more urgency then the one before.  
  
Camry turned and bolted, running blindly down the street, hoping that her worst fears were not liv4ed out at last. She stopped, spying a newspaper lying on the ground. She picked it up, hoping it was today's. It was. On the first page, her fears multiplied, as she read the heading. In big bold, accusing letters, it said;  
  
MUTANT REGISTRATION LAW PASSED  
  
Camry dropped the paper and kept running.  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
A/N: What do you think? You like? Should I write more? Please let me know!! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! 


	4. Get Them Back

Disclaimer: Ok, I wrote one of these in my previous chapter, so go look there!  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Camry kept running. Then she stopped. It was strangely quiet. Where were the sirens! God, she had just robbed a bank, and no one was looking for her? Unless... what if... the mutant law was passed, so what if they were capturing mutants, instead of just registering them? Camry shuddered. She turned, her senses heightened in the dark. She had heard a footstep. A person clothed in black had crept up on her, when she had been lost in thoughts. Several more black-clad figures moved in on her. She was surrounded, and they all had guns. She did the math in her head several times. One small, skinny teenage girl, verses ten or twelve full trained men with guns. Even with her amazing fighting skills, and mutation, the numbers came out the same every time. Bad. Very bad. Nonetheless, she would not come out without a fight. Even if she died. She baled her fists, ready for the first blow. It came at her from behind. She grabbed the extended fist, and crouched down low, throwing the man over her head. The next came at her. And the next. They did not come at her one at a time, rather all at once. She dodged each one. They were not good fighters. They were actually pretty weak. In a matter of minutes, they were all out cold. She spat on the ground by them. Then she ran back the way she had come. Why the hell not? If the bastards took her friends, she sure as hell was going to get them back.  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
A/N: ok, ok, I know it's really short, but I'll post again real soon to make up for it!! 


	5. Taken Away

Disclaimer: OK, for those of you who haven't seen one of these before... I don't own X-Men. All I own is Camry, Birdie, and Gryffon.  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
Camry arrived back at the bank. No one was there. Why not? Where had they gone? Panting, she looked around. Lying on the ground by the front door was a white piece of paper. Camry picked it up and read;  
  
Cam,  
  
Knew u'd come. Help. Birdie + me r b-in taken away. Don't know y. Not by gov't. Sum rich, power-crazed guy. Dennings. Don't no who that is. Takin us 2 base 14. Don't know were. There r more of us. Lots. Gov't passed reg law. Base 14 sum kind of prison or holdin place. Get us out. Don't no plans. Cud b ne ting. Help.  
  
Gryff  
  
Camry glared at the note. Base 14? What was that? The government wasn't behind it? Who was this guy, Dennings? So, Dennigns was taking them to base 14. And there were more mutants being taken there. How many was lots? Camry bit her lip. If I was a power-crazed rich guy gathering up mutants, she thought, where would I put them? In the last place anyone would look. She shocked herself with the stupidity of this logic. Well, duh! If they were in the first place anyone looked, they would be found within a day. Camry sighed. Ok, first things first. She needed to look up Dennings. Ok, where to find a computer at four in the morning? No café would be open; the local library wouldn't be open 'til eight. She sighed. It would have to wait until morning. She walked drearily back to the hotel where the room they had rented was. She entered the elevator, and rode up to the sixth floor. Quietly, she slipped the key into the lock and entered. She flopped down on the couch, to begin the hard and prolonged chore of figuring out how to get her friends out from the clutches of some crazy psychopath.  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~   
  
Author's Note: ok, I know that this one is short, too, but I will post again soon. Minor case of writer's block. If you read, please review! 


	6. The Deal

Disclaimer: Ok, if you don't know who I do and don't own by now, then to bad, because I'm not telling you again.  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
  
  
Camry was awakened by someone pounding on her door. She jumped and checked her watch. Ten o'clock?! She was supposed to be out by nine!  
  
"Your late! I'm coming in!" A voice called. Camry rushed to the door, brushing a piece of hair out of her face as she did so.  
  
"Yah," she said, "Hi. Sorry, I overslept. I'll be out in ten minutes."  
  
"You better be," the man said, "You owe me three hundred dollars for the room, missy. Your parents here?"   
  
"Uh..." Camry replied, "They went out. I mean, they'll be back and... Didn't they pay on there way out?" She brushed her hair away from her face again. The man shook his head.  
  
"Nuh-uh. Wait, you're not the same kid that was here yesterday. She had red hair. You're blond. What happened? You know," he shook a finger at Camry, "If this is some kind of con..." Camry interrupted him, "Noooo! No, sir. No con here. Just my parents and me. Well, really only me right now...umm... yah." She was about to close the door, but he put his foot in it.  
  
"Well, I haven't met your 'parents' yet, missy. They have always been 'out'. Wait," a look of strangled recognition came over his face, "Aren't you that kid...yah, you are! Your face is all over the newspapers. The whole city is looking for you 'cus you're a mutant." He grinned. Oh shit, thought Camry. He lowered his voice to a husky whisper, "Can I come in? I'd like to talk to you. I think I know what's going on." Oh shit, she thought again.  
  
"Sure," she said, in a slightly shaky voice. She led him inside the small room. The two sat down at the table. Camry quickly grabbed her pocketknife (which had been lying on the table) and put it in her pocket. The man raised a brow.  
  
"You always leave knives on the table?" he asked. Camry stuttered around the question for a minute, until he stopped her. "That's not what I'm here for. I know what you did. You and your friends, yes I know that there were just three kids here, you robbed a bank. Dennings kid napped them. You want to find them, right? Well, I might be able to help, if you do one thing."  
  
"How...how do you know?" Camry asked. He replied, "I'm telepathic. I can help you get Dennings. I don't know what he is doing, but he...he took my daughter. I would give anything to get her back. Wherever he took your friends -Dylan and Gryffon, is it? - wherever he took them is where he has my Megan. I will give you use of my computer, if it helps, and I will give you free room and board, and also erase your existing tab. Deal?" This man may or may not have a daughter, but the conditions were excellent.  
  
"Ok, mister...?" she asked.  
  
"Smith."  
  
"Ok, mister Smith, you have yourself a deal." They shook hands  
  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~  
  
A/N: ok, do you like? Do you not like? LET ME KNOW!!! 


End file.
